In-depth coverage and analysis of the weekend's box office totals from einsiders.com.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

'Madea Goes to Jail' whoops box office with $41.1m, Feb. 20-22, 2009

On a night that saw Fox Searchlight's Slumdog Millionaire sweep the Oscars with eight awards including Best Film and Best Director, it was Tyler Perry who swept the box office, as his latest Madea saga Madea Goes to Jail posted the fifth biggest February opening of all-time with a whopping $41.1 million.

The staggering ticket sales were more than the next four competitors combined, including Slumdog Millionaire in fifth, as the Lionsgate release averaged a jaw-dropping $20,236 in just 2,032 theaters, giving Madea the third biggest opening ever for a film showing in under 2,500 theaters. 2002's 8 Mile took in $51.2 million in 2,470 theaters, while 1993's Jurassic Park bowed with $47 million in 2,404 theaters.

The debut of Madea Goes to Jail was by far the biggest of actor/writer/director Tyler Perry's short but hugely successful career, surpassing Madea's Family Reunion which bowed with $30 million in 2006. Even more striking is the fact that Jail pulled in more this weekend than the entire run of Perry's The Family That Preys, which finished with $37.1 million last year.

Holdovers dominated the rest of the top ten with Liam Neeson's thriller Taken continuing its strong run with $11.4 million. In just four weeks the sleeper hit has brought in $95.1 million, and should break the century mark by next weekend.

Focus Features' family film Coraline slipped just 25% to third with $11 million, bringing the stop-motion pic's three week cume to $53.4 million. In fourth was the romantic comedy He's Just Not That Into You, which fell 56% from Valentine's Day weekend to $8.5 million. In three weeks the film has grossed an impressive $70.1 million.

In fifth and sure to see an even bigger spike in sales in the coming week was Oscar winner Slumdog Millionaire, which rode the huge Oscar buzz to a 10% increase in sales to $8 million. The Best Film winner has now amassed $98 million domestic and should see a major boost in theaters and sales in the upcoming week.

Opening poorly in ninth was the comedy Fired Up!, which took in $6 million.

Other Best Picture nominees that fared well this weekend were The Reader with $2.8 million, hot off Kate Winslet's Best Actress win, Milk with a 25% increase in sales to $1.1 million, thanks to Best Actor winner Sean Penn, and Frost/Nixon, which rose 31% to $678,000. The last Best Film nominee The Case of Benjamin Button hasn't gotten the Oscar boost Paramount was hoping for, earning $1.2 million bringing its cume to $124.2 million.

1 comment:

He was successful again with Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail (2009) I have really enjoy this movie to day on free movies http://www.80millionmoviesfree.com better than the first movie of his. Just because he put every thing in to act Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail (2009) is more colorful movie and one can really make laugh on it.